His family name means “dragon”
Simply said, "Dracula" means "son of the Dragon", which is one of the most interesting facts about Vlad the Impaler. Scholars taken in by the legendary nonsense linked to the genuine Vlad Tepes by Stoker have occasionally misinterpreted the name, which is Slavonic, as meaning "son of the Devil." Because his father, Vlad II (pre-1395-1447), was referred to as Vlad Dracul, or "Vlad the Dragon," Vlad Tepes was regarded as the "son of the Dragon." Although he had committed no particularly horrific acts, this nickname was bestowed upon him because he belonged to the prestigious Order of the Dragon, a chivalric order of nobility tasked with protecting Christianity from heretical foes, particularly the Ottoman Muslims.
Most of Vlad Dracul's formative years were spent in Buda (the ancient site of the Danube in modern Budapest, Hungary). Sigismund, King of Hungary, freely stated that Dracul was "educated at our court," indicating that he had complete faith in the young man's ability and allegiance. Dracul had the option to leave after Mircea's death in 1418, but he choose to remain as Sigismund's page instead.
As Sigismund's page, Dracul traveled extensively throughout Europe with the Hungarian court, visiting places like Rome, Prague, Nuremberg, and Transylvania while receiving a multilingual education to help him succeed in a career in European politics. Following Sigismund's induction into the Order of the Dragon in 1431, Dracul made his way back to Hungary in 1429.
